12&U Mixed - Report by Sheridan Mom

A late change of venue and time saw us head to Melbourne Girls Grammar after Vic Polo had pool booking issues. With the festive season in full swing, numbers were a little light—just one player on the bench this week. Despite that, the kids showed fantastic improvement and put up a great contest against Melbourne Collegians.

The team should be proud of their effort. We’re getting better every week, both defensively and in attack. It was a tough game, with MC fielding some very physical players, which earned us an extra “player” advantage on a couple of occasions. Unfortunately, we didn’t capitalize on those opportunities—something to work on when the season resumes next year.

Essendon/DVE Aquatic defeated Melbourne Collegians : 5 - 3   

Goals : Xavier 2, Dean 1, Lucas 1, Louis 1

14&U Boys - Report by Jamie Kirby

An early 8am start for our Essendon combo team this week against Richmond Yellow at MGGS. A great turn out, with 12 players - a record for this team!

We were able to possess the ball early, but their good defence stopped the shots. Looking more organised today, quarter time we were down 1-3. 2nd quarter we tried to speed up our ball movement - a couple of costly turnovers mixed in with some really good opportunities. Richmond's defence has been superb! 1-6 at half time. 3rd quarter was intense! Great ball movement generating our 2nd goal. Great defensive pressure shutting down their star. Great keeping when needed. Their only goal courtesy of a penalty. 2-7 at three quarter time. Defensive pressure dropped slightly at the start of the 4th, with some costly goals conceded. A highlight - goalkeeper Ollie pushed up to halfway & scored a beautiful goal! 

Enjoy the break boys, big 2nd half of the season to come!

Footscray/Essendon/Monash/Northcote were defeated by Richmond Yellow : 4 - 11

Goals : Ashton 2, Lukas 1, Oliver 1

14&U Girls

GAME 1

Marlins/Essendon/Ballarat were defeated by Melbourne Collegians (Score TBC)   

GAME 2

Marlins/Essendon/Ballarat were defeated by Monash (Score TBC)  

Youth Boys (Jack) - Report by Ilona Elmore

Every time an MC match up looms, and the nerves kick in, the boys step up and deliver! Another brave, cracking win - and they charge into the break undefeated. Jack is absolutely loving this season and this team's style right now. Bring on the New Year, this group is ready for the challenge.

DVE Aquatic(Essendon) defeated MC White : 9 - 3

Goals : Oscar 3, Alexander 3, Jack 1, Rybek 1, Emilio 1

Team photo this week, courtesy of DVE

Youth Boys (Timo)

Northcote(Essendon) had a scheduled BYE this week.

Youth Girls - Report by Kate Simnett

This week saw our list of 15 down to 7 available girls… and we were missing our stalwart goalie Isla, against two strong Richmond teams. The best of it was the way the girls supported each other, went into goals and kept on swimming. 

GAME 1 Despite the score line the girls played well, particularly in the first half. They had plenty of chances but Richmond were simply better at putting it in the back of the net.

Essendon/Marlins were defeated by Richmond Yellow : 3 - 18   Goals : Josie 2, Kate 1

GAME 2 There were some tired tired arms in the pool for game two. The girls were brave and resilient given the thumping they received. They all kept swimming & trying! 

Big thanks to Craig and Sandra for scoring. 

Essendon/Marlins were defeated by Richmond Black : 1 - 27   Goals : Josie 1

Junior Men 

DVE Aquatic(Essendon) had a scheduled BYE this week.

This week was our final training session for 2025 - always a fun night with the Parents Vs the Kids game being a feature. This year's match didn't disappoint... resulting in pure chaos! With the kids keen to get the result, there were some innovative and unorthodox goal keeping moves to thwart parental shots on goal (see the video)... but in the end... the parents had the upper hand (and the refs pocket?), taking home a 10-7 win!

Photos below courtesy of Ilona Elmore and Lucy Leahy (video credit Lucy Leahy)